Sunderland Bridge to Page Bank (Weardale Way)

The Weardale Way has existed in several forms for a long time in various guises. A route was established by Alan Earnshaw who was an early member of the DCVRS service around 1973. He started at the developing site of Killhope Wheel and ended his route, which involved a substantial amount of moorland walking, at Sunnybrow near Willington. The next guide was a Dalesman book by Ken Piggin published towards the end of the 1970s which started at Sunderland and finished at Killhope which l believe is the natural finish and it was this route which was waymarked by DCC and on OS 19. In the mid 1990s a further guide to the Weardale Way, partly sponsored by DCC was written by Alistair Wallace and this is the route shown on current OS maps. It follows Piggins route from Sunderland to Witton le Wear but thereafter concentrated on a lower route omitting Knitsley Fell and the elephant trees and terminating at Wearhead where the river first becomes the River Wear. In very recent times the Weardale Way has been altered again climbing back to Knitsley Fell, although I am not aware whether this amendment is on the OS maps.

A new and updated publication (2012, Durham Cow) called “The Weardale Way Guide” by Joe Watson contains some excellent photographs. In my view I would like to see a High Route and a Valley Route maintained, but in the meantime be aware of possible differences between waymarking and what is on the map.

Sunderland Bridge (meaning southland of Durham) is an interesting place and along with Croxdale and Holywell (where we visit later) is in a Conservation area designated as long ago as 1976. Prior to the bridge being built access to Durham was further downriver towards Shincliffe via a ford near to Low Butterby. There was a skirmish in this area on the morning of the battle of Neville’s Cross where the Scots by all accounts suffered significant losses. Just to the North of the start is Burn Hall, also in the conservation area, which was built in 1821 by the Salvins of Croxdale. This later passed into the hands of the RC Church and was eventually converted into housing in 1995. It is more than half circled by the River Browney (brunea meaning brown water) and a feature of the property was that the owner in earlier days was responsible for the upkeep of the Great North Road which passed through the property. A few years ago the land on the opposite side of the A167 was purchased by the Woodland Trust and they have made a superb job of developing an extensive new wood called Burnhall Wood, which is well worth an extended visit.

The route of the Weardale Way follows the North bank of the Wear closely passing under the massive brick viaduct carrying the main line to London and then crossing the Holystone Burn on the plank footbridge erected by Durham County Council in 2010. The whole route to Page Bank has soft sandy soil and is a good area for birdlife particularly waders such as Curlew and Lapwing. After about 3 miles we arrive at Page Bank Bridge opened by Tony Blair. Page Bank was a coal mining settlement with the mine opening in 1853 and closing in 1930. In its latter days it produced fireclay only. The village was designated a Category D village and unlike some of the others such as Woodland, Waldridge and Victoria Garesfield did not survive and was demolished.

We continue upriver on the Weardale Way before turning uphill to the site of Tilery Cottage. A wood and tin cottage stood on this site until Oct 2001 when a fire destroyed it. Due to its remote location there was no electricity, with candles being used for light and it was one of these that caused the fire. The residents had been an aged mother and son for over 50 years and the mother had loved the views so much that special permission had been given for her to be buried on the site. It is now a modern residence.

We cross the A690 to pick up the Brandon to Bishop Auckland Walkway and head back towards Durham noting Stockley Gill Wood to arrive at the site of Brancepeth Station. Brancepeth is thought to be derived from Brawns Peth which will be explained later. We go to the village to visit Brancepeth Castle which at one time had been owned by the Nevilles. This name is a corruption from Gilbert de Neuville who had arrived and fought with William The Conqueror but the property was confiscated in 1569 by the Crown for his part (along with the Percys of Northumberland) in plotting against Elizabeth I. In the Rising of the North it remained in Crown hands for a long period before being acquired by Robert Carr (Earl of Somerset) who was subsequently found guity of the murder of Sir Thomas Ovebury. After several other changes of ownership it was purchased by William Russell, a Sunderland banker and one of the four Grand Allies who owned most of the coal in the North East. His son became the richest commoner in England.

The church here was badly damaged by fire but has been sensitively restored. The Wordsworths visited and wrote well of Brancepeth, and Tennyson found inspiration to write “Come into the Garden Maude” here.

Returning to the Walkway we proceed to the edge of Brandon before turning down the edge of a wood to the A690. The Morley Wood pub here was originally called The Brawn’s Den which was named after a legendary massive wild boar which terrorised the area around 1200. Many people tried to kill it and one man was successful. He was Roger de Ferry from Ferryhill. On his first attempt his horse reared up frightened but in any case its hide was very difficult to pierce with arrows, and he would probably have been unsuccessful. He then proceeded to track the animal which he peceived to follow definite tracks one of which led to its base at Brawns Den, which is North of Brancepeth on the site of an Iron Age settlement. He noted that in late afternoon it went towards Ferryhill where there were abundant acorns (pannage) and he dug a pit and covered it with branches and leaves. The animal fell into the pit where after repeated lancings he killed it. The spot at Cleves Cross Farm had a cross built where the incident occurred and although the cross has now disappeared there is a plaque in the wall which states “The large Stone just above part of Cleves Cross marks the spot where by tradition the Brawn of Brancepeth was killed by Roger de Ferry about 1200”. However another account names a man called Hodge as the killer of the Brawn.

We now follow the lane to Holywell Hall noting the excellent care put into the farming hereabouts and the wide variety of birds to be seen on the farmland and the lakes. The house was owned by Cuthbert Morley Headlam who was a senior Tory MP in the Wartime WW2 government and who wrote the Headlam Diaries. The politicians were even writing memoirs then although he needed to as by all accounts he flirted with bankruptcy several times. Prior to him the Hall was owned by CS Steavenson (1825 -1910) who was the most eminent Mining Engineer in the North East as well as a gadget man. In 1929 he owned the first caravan in the Darlington District and created quite a stir when taking it on touring holidays. We continue past the hall on the bridleway to arrive back at the start of the walk.